PORT ANGELES — A Carlsborg man has withdrawn his offer to purchase the former Fairview School site and turn it into a pot-growing and -processing facility, pushing the shuttered building and its 9.4 acres back on the market.
Kurt Jafay squelched his purchase-and-sale agreement with the Port Angeles School District after the School Board on April 23 unanimously voted against extending the May 31 feasibility study deadline on the property east of Port Angeles while he addresses a court challenge.
The Dec. 19 land-use petition filed in Clallam County Superior Court takes issue with Clallam County Hearing Examiner pro-tem Lauren Erickson’s approval of a conditional-use permit for the project, prompting Jafay’s request for the delay to July 10.
A trial on the petition, filed by Fairview School-area residents Al and Helen Slind and David and Alice Lamon, is scheduled for May 19.
“Nobody’s going to buy a piece of property without knowing the outcome of an appeal of the hearing examiner decision,” Jafay said Thursday.
Going ahead with trial
Port Angeles lawyer Craig Miller, representing the Slinds and Lamons, said Thursday he probably will move forward with the petition to keep the building from being used for growing and processing marijuana.
“My decision right now is to proceed, period,” Miller said.
Since the school district still owns the building, it may be the only school district in the state that holds a conditional-use permit allowing the processing of marijuana.
Jafay and the school district had until June 14 to close on an $814,000 purchase-and-sale agreement for Jafay to buy the 166 Lake Farm Road parcel.
The agreement was contingent on completion of the feasibility study.
The pact was signed April 24, 2014, a year to the day that Jafay withdrew his offer.
Tired of waiting
“There was quite a bit of talk as to how much longer this whole thing could drag out,” School Board President Sarah Methner said Wednesday.
The property has been relisted for sale and may be reappraised, she said.
“We have some enormous capital needs,” Methner added.
“This would have been the third extension, and we’re just done.
“We are tired of waiting and having that property sitting there.”
The 1960s-era school was closed in 1997 because of declining enrollment.
Jafay had wanted to convert the 26,568-square-foot building into an operation where marijuana would be grown, trimmed, dried, packaged and labeled, and where oils from the plants would be infused into edible products.
The Slinds and Lamons allege in their petition that the use is industrial or commercial and thus inconsistent with the neighborhood’s rural character.
But Erickson said in her ruling that the use was “strikingly comparable” to outright allowable uses, such as small-scale wood manufacturing.
Jafay said the land-use petition was not really about land use.
“I think the people that have made the appeal did so only because they are against the legalization of marijuana,” he said.
“There’s no reasons why [the school district] shouldn’t be allowed to sell a building, and the fact that people are manipulating the system or using the court system for their agenda is wrong, in and of itself, the agenda being anti-marijuana legislation.”
Washington’s legal pot law, Initiative 502, passed with 56 percent of the vote in 2012. Voters approved the measure in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Miller said he’s represented neighbors in the past who have objected to marijuana-producing facilities.
“In ever single [case], the applicant has maintained this is just an anti-marijuana thing,” Miller said.
“They could all be against marijuana, but that’s not the issue.
“The issue is, are they against a commercial use in their neighborhood.”
Another offer later?
Kelly Pearson, school district director of finance and operations, laughed at the notion that the district might use the site for processing marijuana.
“I can guarantee we won’t do that,” she said.
“The permit does follow the property,” she added.
“If someone does go and offer to buy it, they could do that, and there’s the permit out there.”
Jafay would not say if he would make another offer for the building if Erickson’s ruling is upheld.
The School Board voted 4-0 to deny the extension, with Cindy Kelly abstaining.
Kelly works for the Dry Creek Water District, from which Jafay had applied for a permit.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
